recovering from whiplash

by Brigid DiPaolo
(Silver Lake Oh)

I have a student who was rear ended in a minor car accident a few weeks ago. She has taken 3 weeks off. She is having pain in her mid back, between her scapula. Aside from listening to her body and not doing anything that causes pain: what reformer exercises would you recommend to get her back moving again?

Jennifer's Response:

Hello Brigid and thank you for writing.

I would begin and end the session with Pilates ribcage breathing exercises. This is one of the only ways to stretch and relax the deeper muscles of the mid and upper back.

Have them breathe both lying and sitting up so they are comfortable practicing it whenever they have pain.

Check out the article here for more instruction: Pilates Breathing Exercise.

Aside from the breathing exercise move through a series of range of motion exercises for the upper and lower body on light spring tension to develop the core strength again.

Remember that even the reformer footwork can be stressful on the upper body set at a high spring tension.

You should begin to see some improvement within a couple of weeks if you progress this person slowly.

Best to you!

Jennifer